As the stock market has reached historic highs, fundraisers should be talking to their donors about making a new gift or fulfilling a pledge with appreciated stock.Donor-advised funds, which allow people to set up charitable accounts and help decide which nonprofit groups get grants from those accounts, are seeing a rise in donated stocks this year. At the National Philanthropic Trust, “we have seen an uptick in gifts of appreciated securities. The market goes up and a day or two later, people want to capture the higher value of their gift.”

The surge in stock gifts reflects the rise of publicly traded stock as well as an increase in mergers and acquisitions, which involve privately held companies. At the Fidelity Charitable gift fund, gifts of complex assets including privately held stock exceeded $100 million in the first six months of 2014.

Not only are stock donations on the rise, but also an increasing number of charitable remainder trusts are being created with proceeds from the sale of real estate. These trusts provide income for donors, usually for the life of that person and in some cases a spouse or another individual, before generating a sizable gift to charity.